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When the next pope is elected, he will have to decide whether to resume tweeting from his predecessor’s @Pontifex account or, presumably, shut down the account for good. For one front runner at least, the decision might be a no brainer.

Cardinal Odilio Scherer of Brazil, viewed as one of the conclave’s top choices in an election without a clear favorite, already has a strong Twitter presence and has been active on the site since 2011. Unlike the way Pope Benedict used the @Pontifex account, Scherer, tweeting from the handle @DomOdiloScherer, frequently interacts with his followers, using the platform’s reply function liberally to answer questions, give advice and even stand up to critics.

In one recent interaction, for example, Cardinal Scherer enaged a follower in a discussion about birth control. “We must act with logic,” the follower wrote, “Chastity is the ideal but pure utopia, prevention is better than cure.” To which Scherer responded, “Fernando, most of all, we need to act ethically.”

Cardinal Scherer is also fond of posting photos from his account, mixing biblical images with scenery from around Brazil and even a few pictures from a trip he took to Haiti.

If elected, Scherer is likely to add a social media jolt to the Papacy. Potentially, he could take the reigns of the @Pontifex account himself, using it to seamlessly interact with the over 2.5 million followers following the Pope’s accounts instead of leaving it to his advisers.

Aside from Cardinal Scherer, few other Cardinals considered possible successors to Benedict XVI maintain a presence on Twitter. One longshot, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, does maintain an account. Followed by over 95,000 people and verified with a blue check mark, Dolan posted his first tweet in May 2012: “Hey everybody,” he wrote “It's Timothy Cardinal Tebow. I mean Dolan. I'm on Twitter.”

Hey everybody. It's Timothy Cardinal Tebow. I mean Dolan. I'm on Twitter. And I'm live on Town Hall on SiriusXM's The Catholic Channel 129.